The springboard for Steven Johnson's book, The Ghost Map, is the 1854 London cholera epidemic, but the pool that he dives into from this jumping off point is both deep and broad.
The cholera epidemic of 1854 is fascinating in and of itself, and many aficionados of medical history will recall that it was the setting of one of the most dramatic moments in public health history: an epidemic was brought to a halt by the simple removal of the pump handle on the Broad Street well that supplied the stricken London neighborhood. The ferocity of an epidemic that swept entire families away in two or three days is presented in horrifying detail, but this book is far more fascinating than just another plague story. Johnson's credentials in science writing are solid and impressive, having written for Wired, Slate, and Discover Magazine, as well as having published several books. In Ghost Map, he flexes his literary muscle with potent effect. Johnson's mind is a "big tent" mind, and The Ghost Map is a three ring circus of intellectual ferment, with the final product being far more thought-provoking and informative than a "bug versus human, human conquers bug" tale.
Johnson is a fan of scalable levels of knowing, and is never satisfied with a simple listing of dates, times, and names. Think rather this way: bacteria (such as the vibrio cholerae) evolved early on. More complex unicellular organisms came later, but actually incorporated bacteria inside their cell membranes to provide certain functions (such as mitochondria). These more complex cellular organisms became multi-cellular. Multi-cellular organisms eventually (in the plant and animal world) developed organs. Humans eventually came on the scene, composed of cells, organs, neuro and hormonal networks, and consciousness. Humans began to live together, forming simple gatherings, then hamlets, villages, towns, cities, and mega-cities. As cities and mega-cities evolved, their function clearly demonstrated yet another scaled up level of organization: cities/mega-cities began to function like organisms...or maybe ARE organisms. Cities combine into states/nations, and up the scale we go to the Margulis/Lovelock Gaia concept, and even beyond. All to say that starting with the tiny little organism that causes fatal illness in the untreated victim, vibrio cholerae, Johnson takes the reader on eye-popping, cerebrum stretching exploration of where we humans have been, and where we might be going. The author never lets the reader forget the overlapping and interweaving levels of effects and influences that all the above organisms and quasi-organisms have upon one another. Two million people inhabited London in 1854, with population densities sometimes exceeding 400 people per acre. States Johnson "that perplexity gave rise to an intuitive sense that the city itself was best understood as a creature with its own distinct form of volition, greater than the sum of its parts, a monster, a diseased body."
The title, The Ghost Map, is a prelude to Johnson's fascination with the ability of maps to organize knowledge into ever more comprehensible patterns, patterns that vastly supersede in sophistication and utility the simple specification of geographic location. Johnson's discussion of this topic alone would have satisfied me that I got my money's worth out of this excellent book, but the importance of maps is only one topic among many that would have made me feel equally satisfied. Dive into this pool of ideas ready to have more than a few take-your-breath-away moments.
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Not scifi
After reading beginning,it followed like a futuristic science fi.I mean I thought it was a throw back to the recent poisonings with nuclearar dust,radiation,#16.Then it got to aluminum,and I lost interest.I was imagining a Russian spy was writing it up until then.
Top reviews from other countries
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Imperdivel para quem gosta de História.
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